Networking
I had a bad start to the day.
I was going to a seminar which would involve professional networking, so my plan was to wear my suit. As usual, I ate breakfast in my pyjamas to avoid any risk of spilling food on my smart clothes. Things were going well until I noticed that I had a stack of pots, pans and other things that I didn't get round to washing last night and decided to do it then and there.
Not content with using a scrubbing brush on my cheese grater, I used my thumb to check for bits of food that hadn't come off, and that was when I felt a searing pain. Putting my skin into contact with a cheese grater is a really bad idea, especially if you don't notice that you're touching a very sharp edge. To cut a long story short, I grated my thumb, creating a large gash in the skin, from which blood was pouring. I don't have plasters, so I was trying to use toilet roll as a tourniquet (having now abandoned the washing up). The bleeding wasn't stopping and I had to carefully dress without getting blood on my clothes (I got a speck on the sleeve of my shirt and somehow managed to tie my tie one-handed).
I just about made the train; now the thing that annoyed me was that it was a busy rush hour train, and they only put on four carriages, even though the station near my flat can handle trains with twelve coaches. I got on, not expecting a seat; I was going to stand by the opposite set of doors, which don't open at the single other stop the train made, but two people had beaten me to this idea. I walked down the aisle, and the woman in front of me took what looked like the last seat, but then I thought my luck was in as I spotted another one free. I asked the person on the aisle seat to excuse me, but before I could get near it, a woman sitting opposite started hollering, "No! you can't sit there!", and the man behind me, who had just got on at my stop told me quite pointedly that the seat was being saved for him.
I was not happy, mostly because the concept of reserving seats for people who don't even make an effort to get onto the train first is one of the most infuriating things in the world, it's like people don't think, "You know - the train's pretty crowded - chances are someone else is going to get on wanting this seat". So, I had to stand for the whole journey, and then some chavvy person came storming up the train aisle, despite it being filled with people standing (in a situation like that I just wouldn't bother); I was suddenly startled when he came up behind me and demanded I excuse him; it wasn't like the toilet was this way or anything. He walked into first class, and I looked up and saw he hadn't even sat down (I know a lot of people decide to go in there and don't necessarily have tickets); I eventually worked out he had gone there to chat to his friend, like he couldn't wait to find him at the end of the journey.
Thankfully, when I got to the seminar things were more pleasant, even though I was still bleeding slightly from earlier. One of the talks was from a barrister who I'd worked with many years ago, and I had a really enjoyable lunch with some of the other people. It started to drag towards the end, but it made a change from work.
I was going to a seminar which would involve professional networking, so my plan was to wear my suit. As usual, I ate breakfast in my pyjamas to avoid any risk of spilling food on my smart clothes. Things were going well until I noticed that I had a stack of pots, pans and other things that I didn't get round to washing last night and decided to do it then and there.
Not content with using a scrubbing brush on my cheese grater, I used my thumb to check for bits of food that hadn't come off, and that was when I felt a searing pain. Putting my skin into contact with a cheese grater is a really bad idea, especially if you don't notice that you're touching a very sharp edge. To cut a long story short, I grated my thumb, creating a large gash in the skin, from which blood was pouring. I don't have plasters, so I was trying to use toilet roll as a tourniquet (having now abandoned the washing up). The bleeding wasn't stopping and I had to carefully dress without getting blood on my clothes (I got a speck on the sleeve of my shirt and somehow managed to tie my tie one-handed).
I just about made the train; now the thing that annoyed me was that it was a busy rush hour train, and they only put on four carriages, even though the station near my flat can handle trains with twelve coaches. I got on, not expecting a seat; I was going to stand by the opposite set of doors, which don't open at the single other stop the train made, but two people had beaten me to this idea. I walked down the aisle, and the woman in front of me took what looked like the last seat, but then I thought my luck was in as I spotted another one free. I asked the person on the aisle seat to excuse me, but before I could get near it, a woman sitting opposite started hollering, "No! you can't sit there!", and the man behind me, who had just got on at my stop told me quite pointedly that the seat was being saved for him.
I was not happy, mostly because the concept of reserving seats for people who don't even make an effort to get onto the train first is one of the most infuriating things in the world, it's like people don't think, "You know - the train's pretty crowded - chances are someone else is going to get on wanting this seat". So, I had to stand for the whole journey, and then some chavvy person came storming up the train aisle, despite it being filled with people standing (in a situation like that I just wouldn't bother); I was suddenly startled when he came up behind me and demanded I excuse him; it wasn't like the toilet was this way or anything. He walked into first class, and I looked up and saw he hadn't even sat down (I know a lot of people decide to go in there and don't necessarily have tickets); I eventually worked out he had gone there to chat to his friend, like he couldn't wait to find him at the end of the journey.
Thankfully, when I got to the seminar things were more pleasant, even though I was still bleeding slightly from earlier. One of the talks was from a barrister who I'd worked with many years ago, and I had a really enjoyable lunch with some of the other people. It started to drag towards the end, but it made a change from work.